Amazon may succeed on key argument in suit over cloud computing deal

	
The opinion by a judge from U.S. Court of Federal Claims was unsealed recently
	 
	
Just weeks after the contract was awarded to Microsoft, Amazon filed a lawsuit in November 2019
A federal judge recently concluded that Amazon.com Inc. is likely to succeed on a key argument in the lawsuit citing President Trumps intervention in the United States Department of Defenses verdict to award cloud computing contract worth up to USD 10 billion to the tech giant Microsoft Corp.
The opinion by Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith from U.S. Court of Federal Claims was unsealed recently. On 13 Feb 2020, she issued an order stalling work on the contract pending the resolution of court challenge by Amazon, which contends that the contract was granted to Microsoft because of improper influence by the American President.
The opinion did not address Amazon's claims of inappropriate influence or mention Trump but instead focused on how the Pentagon had assessed data storage of Microsoft in one price scenario.
Judge Patricia wrote that Amazon could succeed based on the merits of its argument that the Department of Defense improperly evaluated a Microsoft price scenario. The Judge also added that Amazon is likely to show that the scenario with Microsoft was technically not feasible, as assessed by the Pentagon.
Just weeks after the contract was awarded to Microsoft, Amazon, which had been seen as a potential winner of the cloud computing deal, filed a lawsuit in November 2019. Since then, the American President has publicly ridiculed Jeff Bezos, the Amazon head, and repeatedly criticized the online retailer.
As a part of the lawsuit, Amazon has requested the court to halt the execution of the contract, known as the JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) Cloud. The contract is intended to give the military better access to technology and data from remote locations.
Previously, Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing unit reported that it wanted to depose Trump in its lawsuit and claimed the president was trying to meddle with Amazon and the contract.
 
Source Credit: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-03-07/us-judge-says-amazon-likely-to-succeed-in-defense-cloud-contract-challenge